10 Movies That Ruined Their Studios

Anyone born in the '90s will have fond memories of the 2D animations produced by Disney and DreamWorks through that decade and into the early noughties. This medium got us invested in the unlikeliest of topics, including Greek myth (Hercules), early 1900s adventure novels (Tarzan), the Bible (The Prince of Egypt and Joseph: King of Dreams), and, of course, Middle-Eastern folk pirates, with Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.

Now, there is no doubt that most of us have powerful memories of watching Sinbad on VHS, at home, but how many went to see it at the cinema? Not nearly enough, is the answer.

DreamWorks was not exactly a small studio in 2003, riding on the successes of Chicken Run and Shrek, but it also hadn’t been in the business long enough to have the iron-clad finances of its main competitor, Disney. Thus, when it spent $60 million on Sinbad, roping in a massive celebrity voice cast including Brad Pitt, that was bad enough. But when it spent a further ~$150 million on marketing and tie-ins, it was beyond the pale.

The film scored £80 million at the box office; not bad for a slightly niche animation, but not nearly enough to cover the costs. Co-founder David Geffen admitted that DreamWorks had come close to bankruptcy twice, thanks to Sinbad, and it was only by some clever financial and business manoeuvres, and dumb luck, that the studio wasn’t forced to close for good.